GESTAPO IN DENMARK

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 September 1943, Page 5

GESTAPO IN DENMARK

STREET-FIGHTING CONTINUED ROYAL FAMILY IMPRISONED LONDON, August 31.. The latest news about events in Denmark indicates that the Gestapo is taking a firm grip on the country. According to Stockholm messages refugees from Demnark say that sporadic fighting between Danish troops and Germans was still going on last night. It is reported that ’450 Danish civilians and soldiers were killed in severe street fighting in tne Svendbord area. At the Jaegersboig barracks, outside Copenhagen, Danish Royal Guards machine-gunned German tanks, destroying three. Casualties on both sides were heavy. At Naestved, 37 miles south of Copenhagen, 600 Danish guards ceased fighting only when their ammunition was exhausted. They had previously rejected a surrender ultimatum. ■ . Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent says that the fighting between Danish arid German troops near Copenhagen continued yesterday afternoon. A general strike occurred on Sunday in a number of areas, including Skagen, Aalborg, Viborg, Aarhus, and Svenborg. The German-controlled Oslo radio says that King Christian of Denmark has abdicated. A Stockholm message says that the entire Danish. Royal Family is intei’ned at Amalicnboig under a German military guard. Members of the Government are either imprisoned or under house arrest Danish circles in London learn that a number of political arrests have been made in Denmark, includin'* the Conservative Party chairman, Mr Fibiger, who is also the leader m Parliament of the Conservative Partv. The 72-year-old head of tne Jewish community in c °P e ,I lha t f g”. (Mr C. B. Henriques) and 50 other prominent Jews have been araested. Sa, 01 Sso b£ AllDanish’regular and reserve officers have been arrested, ana an Danish soldiers on leave have been ordered by the German High Command to report immediately ’to . local German commanders on penalty oi being court-martialled. . The Danish radio says that all travel in Denmark .has been banned except within the immediate radius of a town. FEAR OF INVASION “German fear of an Allied invasion of Denmark is believed to be the major factor determining the application of the severe measures aeninst the Danes,” said Reuter s Stockholm correspondent in an earlier dispatca. “The German statement that the new measures are necessary to protect the European coastline is the first German admission of their fear of an invasion of Denmark. Observers expect that the Danes will be forbidden to listen to foreign broadcasts, and it is possible that radio sets will be confiscated. . rt “Small boats are still escaping from Denmark to Sweden despite the tightening German control over the 20-mile strait separating Sweden and Denmark. Increasing numbers oi German warships and aeroplanes are patrolling the channel, ramming, shelling, and bombing boats attempting to escape. However, over oOU Danes, mainly members of the army and navy, with some policemen and civilians, have so far reached Sweden. A small motor-boat with 60 officers and soldiers reached Hoeganas last night, and a modern minesweeper reached Trolleborg to-day. The ferry boat from Denmark arrived at 'Helsingborg, but it carried no passengers.” The Stockholm newspaper Allehanda” says that uniformed soldiers and sailors from Denmark will probably be interned, and civilians left free. , „ . Communications between Sweden and Denmark are still cut, and the air-lines from Copenhagen to Berlin and Vienna are suspended. The Official German News Agency says that complete calm prevails in Denmark. The police are carrying on with their duties and all work has been resumed. CRUSHING RESISTANCE (Rec. 12.35 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 31. The Germans are doing their utmost to seal off Denmark from the rest of the world and are increasing the air and. sea blockade between Sweden and Denmark. They have suspended the air lines between Denmark and Switzerland. British refugees are still trickling through the German cordon in small boats, but it is difficult to get news from them because they are placed under strict guard on arrival at Stockholm. Some of those interned are most unwilling to talk for fear of German reprisals on their families, which is enhanced by suspicion that German spies are numerous in Sweden. Nevertheless, it is learned that clashes between Danes and Germans continue, especially in Copenhagen. The death roll is stated to be mounting as the Germans try to enforce martial law to check the wave of sabotage and unrest. A picture pieced from fragments from the refugees is one or brief bloody resistance in several centres, which was quickly crushed, after which general strikes broke out in at least nine cities. The fate of King Christian, the Royal Family, and Government officials is the subject of conflicting reports. Tne Berlin radio confirms that the Danish Cabinet resigned on Sunday? The German News Agency announced that the Danish Army and Navy had been disarmed.

The Swedish Government announced that Danish military officials and civilians will be treated as political refugees, interned for a snort period, until housing and employment are arranged. Sweden takes the view that the Danes are not from a belligerent country. The “Daily Express’s” Stockholm correspondent reports that the Germans moved a panzer division from Norway to subdue the people of Denmark. Cadets at Jaegersberg Military School near Copenhagen were reported to have put out of action three German tanks and eleven armoured cars in a 36 hours’ fight before they capitulated. SWEDISH DETERMINATION. (Rec. 11.30 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 31. Criticism of Sweden continues to be poured out by the German Press. The British United Press Stockholm correspondent says the Swedish Press particularly are accused of adopting an unneutral attitude, but Sweden is not impressed. The spokesman of the Swedish Foreign Office told the British United Press: “Sweden is standing, and will continue to stand, on the position it originally adopted. German contentions and allegations will certainly not be accepted.” Whether tne Germans are just blustering or intend to do something more drastic to Sweden cannot be foretold, adds the correspondent. What has specially annoyed the Germans is the increasingly anti-German tone in the leading articles of Swedish newspapers, even those which were ’formerly pro-Nazi.